Sin
SketchThere's another Sin character sketch up on HardCorps SiN News, this time
showing JC, who is described as "your handy-dandy sidekick, who gives you vital clues
to help you through SiN in single-player mode." (I can picture spending some time
trying to shoot the little brat.)

Sujoy
ReturnsSujoy Roy, one-time operator of the famed now-defunct Sujoy's Quake pages has returned to the web
scene with the eponymous Sujoy.Com. In it, Sujoy plans
to give playing tips and coverage of the UK Quake scene.

Pentium Enhanced WinGlideChris Dohnal sent along a
Pentium optimized version of WinGlide (30 KB), the
replacement .dll originally written by Justin Frankel of Nullsoft that allows Quake/Quake
II output in a window on Voodoo cards. Here's the deal:

I downloaded WinGlide v0.5 from your
page a few weeks ago. Since the source code was included, I tried making it faster.
The result was a Pentium enhanced version of WinGlide. Here's a list of some
of the advantages and disadvantages of this Pentium enhanced version of WinGlide

Increased the 640x480 windowed
framerate in Q2test by 25% on my Pentium 133 with a Monster 3D.

A. This allows all of your command
line variables to be executed after the Quake2.exe file during the process of the batch
file being executed. Also this allows Gamespy to add its commands to the command line when
you sign onto a server.

ClusterThe first public beta of the Cluster modification for Quake II is
being conducted. Cluster is a cool idea that picks up on what was originally described as
a possible feature in Quake where the exits on servers in the cluster are all connected,
so you can exit one server and enter another. More details (along with what's likely a
clearer explanation) and a list of available client commands are all on the Quake 2 Cluster Project page. Also, Justin
Randall, AKA Logic, maintains a .plan file, and in the latest
entry is a list of known bugs in the beta.

New
C.R.BotVersion 0.99 of the C.R.Bot for Quake II has been released on the C.R.Bot page. The new release is described as bug
fixes rather than new features, and word there is the next release will be held off until
after the Point Release. Thanks Prophet.

HexMatchVersion 2.0 of HexMatch has been released on the HexDev pages. HexMatch is an essential
utility for anyone running a Hexen II server as it has several features to promote quality
deathmatch, including protections against known forms of cheating, as well as fixes for
bugs that cause server crashes, and now a handy remote administration interface.

Out of the BlueThe banners just keep on
coming, here are four new ones.
It's interesting to see the approach different entries take to promoting this site to
people who may not already be familiar with it. Also interesting is the occasional lack of
such concerns as demonstrated by this entry
(just some 40 KB over the 12 KB size restraint) sent along by my pal, and occasional
Blue's News contributor, loonyboi.
Surprisingly, only a few buttons have been submitted. Oh yeah, I messed around with
the top of the page a bit this morning. I'll probably mess with it some more before I'm
through. As always, feedback is invited.

New Rocket Arena ServerVersion 2.096 of the Rocket
Arena Server (344 KB) has been released on the Rocket Arena page addressing all
current stability issues, and adding a new configuration system for server operators. This
is described as likely the last revision Rocket Arena 2 before the Point Release. In the
meantime, work continues on the Rocket Arena 2 map pack.

ServUpVersion 1.3 of ServUp, an administration tool for Quake II servers is out
on the ServUp page. A quick correction:
all the ServUp files should be in the ServUp directory, not just the gamex86.dll as stated
in the read me.

Out of the BlueThanks to all who wrote in with good wishes on the occasion of the counter
recording its nine-millionth visitor last night. I can't thank all of you enough for the
support you show for this site. The
bannerfest continues: here are the banner submissions of the day. I'll probably just accumulate these
through the weekend and put an end to submission (it's pretty time-consuming going through
all of these bad boys).

The diabolic spirits of the Serpent
Riders return as the most formidable foes ever to inhabit a computer game when Raven
Software and Activision, Inc. launch the Hexen II Mission Pack: Portal of Praevus. The
eagerly awaited expansion pack pits players against the ultimate nemesis, the wizard
Praevus, who plans to resurrect and combine the Serpent Riders' powerful souls for his own
use. Developed by Raven Software and published by Activision, the Hexen II Mission Pack:
Portal of Praevus will be available in North American retail outlets in early 1998 and
will carry a suggested retail price of $29.95.

More
.plansA few .plan updates of interest, including an update by Zoid that should
be read by all Linux Quake II users.

Brian Hook has made a few updates today, the
latest talks about the impressive speed improvements in the nVIDIA drivers,
before that in his first
and second
updates of the day, he talks of his feelings about Boot Magazine and restates his opinion
about the PCX2 versus the Voodoo for both GLQuake and Quake II. Inspired by Hooks
comments, there's an update on Zanshin's
GLDojo on the subject of the PCX2 as well.

Rebel Boat Rocker Randy Pitchford updated
his .plan with a detailed explanation about his feelings about 3D Realms' position as
a "middle-man", inspired by Scott
Miller's recent .plan update, which was itself inspired by an interview comment of
Randy's. We may not have heard the last of this one.

Zoid madea
.plan update about an exploit with Quake2 under Linux if the Quake2 binary has been
made to setuid to root:

rootshell.com has posted an exploit
for Quake2 under Linux. This exploit was talked about on the buqtraq list a day or two
ago.

I've known about this one due to
loading shared libs. I forgot to specifically mention in the readme that Quake2 should not
be setuid. If you want to use the ref_soft and ref_gl renderers, you should run Quake2 as
root. Don't make the binary setuid. You can only run both those renderers at the console
only, so being root isn't that much of an issue. The X11 render doesn't need any root
permissions (if /dev/dsp is writable by others for sound).

I will look at solutions to this
problem in the next release. Problems such as root requirements for games has been sort of
a sore spot in Linux for a number of years now. This is one of the goals that GGI is
targetting to fix. I plan on supporting a ref_ggi in the near future.

Quake
II ComicNewBraindead, maintainer of the very cool Braindead's Quake Art Gallery sends news
that artist 3, not to be confused with |2| (I have no idea if that's intentional) has
posted the first issue of a cool Quake II comic called Fiend on his
homepage, 3's
Quake Art. This comic is highly recommended, but be warned, it has a cliffhanger
ending for those who hate the phrase "to be continued...".

Fight Til Finish (Updated)Version 1.0 of the Quake II Fight
Til Finish Mod, which starts opponents with load of health, armor, and weapons (like
Deathmatch 4 rules), has been released, and is OpenQuake
verified. (I couldn't find the OQ verification at first, thanks RonSolo for the help doping that out).

CompetitionThe boys over at Voodoo Extreme have teamed
up with Diamond Multimedia to hold a competition they call their Golden Oldie
Competition that offers a Voodoo 2-based Monster 2 (when available) for the winner who
can program a 3D accelerated version of a classic game.

etc.Edwards
Handy Gun Guide, chock full of opinions about game weapon design, has been updated to
version 1.1 ... Image of the Day has to be dojomeister Zanshin who posted this shot (black & white,
unfortunately, since it obscures the blue tips) in
his .plan, that opens with those ominous words "my wife made me" ...

John Cash UpdateJohn Cash updated
his .plan with word on what's going on with the Point Release, as well as Birthday
wishes for his son, and some abuse for esses (always welcome):

QuakeII
-------
Still testing. Looks like Zoid may be able to release CTF
at about the same time so it could turn out to be quite a day for releases when it hits.

Fair warning... some changes had to
be made to the game API (the interface to the game dll), so once the point release comes
out, all mods will need to be recompiled with the new headers at a minimum. Of course,
you'll be much better off if you just re-mod the new source since there are a ton of
changes. We'll put the game dll source out close on the heels of the release; I know
you'll be anxious to get it.

There were come protocol changes too,
so this release will not be backwards compatible to older versions. I tried to avoid it,
but it was necessary.

January 27th
------------
Happy Birthday Johnny!!! Yes, my eldest son turns 7 today. Man, they do grow up fast. It
seems like only yesterday he got his first frag. It seems like this morning when he went
to his first QuakeCon and won two matches. Thresh had better keep up on his skills if he
wants to keep that Ferrari; this kid's a killer ;-)

On a related note... have you been
practicing Esses? He's ready for a rematch. Or maybe you'd rather play Joey, my 3 year
old? ;-) Fair warning... Joey's first frag ever was an axe murder!

Makin'
Movies (Updated)A little more on making Quake II cut-scenes. Earlier it was noted by Quake2LabMeister, Steve
Funkadooda that Deconstruct has an
interesting file posted: a movie in .cin format (like the cinematic sequences in Quake
II). The short clip is just an experiment in the art that includes instructions on how to
create your own .cin files. Now, further instructions on that subject (and a small
Juggernaut rant follow-up) come from the creator of the original cinematics, Paul Steed,
in his latest .plan update.

Holy
WarsVersion 1.5 of Holy Wars, the Quake mod that asks you to be a sinner or a
saint (and, of course, to woop up on your opposite number), has been released on the Holy Wars for Quake 2 page, with the Quake
II version said to be "on the verge of betaness".

Model
ManiaJonn Gordon, the Professor X of X-Men Quake, has released a Quake II model
of famed pre-pubescent anime hero Astro
Boy. Also, I've been told there was a problem with the plug-in models posted
yesterday: there's another conversion (that apparently works properly) of the Quake II
monsters here on V.K's Homepage. Also, there is now a Discussion Board for hashing out
modeling issues up on the Q2 The Body Shop.
Finally, a reminder that if you are having trouble with plug-in models to make sure you do
not have any text or zip files (or any files but the models) in your model subdirectories.

RBR1 is completely hardware based,
and that in itself sets it apart from most other engines in the market right now. That
allows us completely insane budgets to develop with and that has affected how we designed
almost everything from the start. So coming from that angle, Billy has graced us with a
lot that we can now take for granted. That and the fact that the RBR1 lighting model is
simply the most beautiful I've ever seen...it's really nice to have such faith in your
core technology.

NGO: What is the time-frame for your
game's release?

We're aiming for August 1 here
internally so it's pretty safe to assume Q4 of this year.

etc.Activision has been sending out an announcement
about the Reckoning, the first official Quake II mission pack, that
implies the project should be hitting shelves soon ... Doom
of the Day(?) is version 0.46 of DOSDoom, out now on the Official DOSDoom Homepage ... ICQ Germany is a resource for German Quake players to find each other through ICQ ...
Here are some Quake 2 TimeDemo
scores on different processors ... Version 1.2 of the Logging
Standards has been released on the GibStats page a standard that allows mod
authors to with a GibStats (or other logging tool) compatible log function ... Happy belated Australia Day (yesterday). Thanks Slug[TTC] ...

Quake II Server Front-EndJason "MonkeySpank" McKnight sent along EzServer (868 KB) designed to make it easier to
set up a Quake II server (the program is a free beta, but will append "ez" to
the end of your server's name).

New
QERadiantPublic Beta (build 036) of QERadiant, the version of id's Quake editor
modified to work on end-user machines, has been released on the QERadiant page. Thanks Razer.

QRANKQRANK is a Quake II modification that allows ranking of players based on
their deathmatch performance. The program is currently being beta tested, and more details
can be found on the QRANK Page, along with
their own menuing system for Quake II mods.

Out of the BlueBanner mania
continues as the weekend produced a bumper crop in response to my request for banners. Sorry about the
bad Linux version of the Eraser beta from yesterday, I seem to have trouble with .tar
files retrieved through HTTP (always have), so I finally gave up and just killed the link.

GStatGStat, based on QStat, has been released on the GStat Homepage. This server
browser, available for both Win32 and Unix, also displays statistics for Quake-based
servers, and functions as a remote server administration tool.

DepartmentsIn his ongoing attempt to review every game controller in the universe,
loonyboi is back with a feature article
called I Love Meeses to Pieces! in
which he examines the entire line of Logitech rodents from the humblest two-button jobby
to the gee-whiz cordless mouse, leaving no doohicky unturned along the way.

etc.There's a program on Tygris'
Linux Quake page to fix a problem that apparently
afflicts skin names when you install them under Linux ... PowerVR site du Jour (who'da thunk?) is Ultimate3D ... A new version of QstatList is out, a package
of Perl scripts to generate and maintain automated Web-based
server lists for Hexen II, Quake, Quake II, QuakeWorld, and QuakeWorld
Master servers ... The new version of QGraph
adds web output to this deathmatch data manager
... Controllers of Tomorrow Department: a Hands-free Headset Controller,
which sounds like a head-controlled joystick with voice recognition ... There are a couple
of Half-Life Desktop Themes up on Jaspur's Half-Life. Thanks Voodoo Extreme ... Similarly, there's a new Q2 theme up on Quake 2 Desktop Theme ... There is now an
online 3DNet PicPage
Application ...

Out of the BlueMore banners and
buttons are up resulting from my request, the hit of the day yesterday seems to be Fragmasters, I've
posted a couple of the large ones but have been skipping most of them, please remember if
you want to send one in, the banners must be less than 12 KB.

Quake done Quick LiteThe Quake done Quick team has
released a new speed-run movie: "Quake done Quick lite", which is the
"Quake done Quicker" run performed on Easy skill, with a few new tricks added
dropping the time to complete the game down to 14:06 (two and a half minutes faster).

Quake II Random Map GeneratorThe first release of the Random Map Generator for Quake II, one of the
cooler projects I've heard of lately, has been released on the Tsunami Tech Home. This preview release will build
a single random map at a time. You can specify which of two prefab foundries to build from
as well as the map size. Tsunami is working towards incorporating the engine fully
into a CTF mod, and are willing to show interested authors how to create their own prefab
foundries. Thanks Prophet.

Swinging Quake II HookersVersion 1.2a of the swinging grappling hook modification for Quake II (a
grapple that uses more "real world" physics), has been released on Hooked, also the new homepage of the swinging
grappling hook for Quake.

New ClanRing ModVersion 3.3 of the ClanRing mod has been released on the ClanRing Mod Development page, featuring a
new chasecam tentatively dubbed the TourneyCam. This is the mod that will be used at the
T3 Finals in Los Angeles this afternoon (live at the SlamSite in L.A., and on IRC in EFNet
#ClanRing, around 1:00 Pacific time).

New
Orange ModVersion 2.12 of the Orange mod for Quake II has been released on the Orange page, featuring Vanilla CTF
support with Expert CTF scoring.

Wal
Plug-InGit set along a Wal Plug-In (13 KB) that sounds like a real
boon to those who would manipulate and create textures for Quake II levels:

I have attached an archive called
WalPlugin.zip. This is a plugin for Adobe Photoshop and Corel Photopaint which allows
Photoshop/Photopaint to both read and write Quake 2 textures in the WAL format as a native
file format. Basically, it means you can edit or create textures for Quake 2 using
Photoshop.

id's Paul Steed made a lengthy
update, covering several topics, including his feelings about modifying Quake II and
the renaming of "CrackWhore" to "Steed's chick" for the imminent
female model and still running contest.

3D Realms' George Broussard updated
his .plan with word that what seems to be the 'final" Shadow Warrior 3Dfx code is
done. He dug the Snork Skins
too, probably not surprisingly favoring the one I mentioned, Duke Snorkum.

Season 2 of the UKCTFL is gearing up, and
entries are being accepted now. Also, they've just released a new version of the UKCTFL
Mod, designed for CTF clan matches.

Kelvin Tooth, Manager of London's Shoot 'n Surf Internet Cafe is holding a bizarre
competition. Email him (icq 6051636) a funny picture, less than 10K in size by the end of
the month, and the funniest entry wins a brand new roll of sellotape (wowee!), and
possibly a special prize.

DepartmentsMade a big update to the LAN
Parties page, including the addition of Auckmageddon,
planned as a huge gathering in Auckland New Zealand. Also, on the LAN Scene, the fine
folks at Canada's Lanapalooza (now held
Quarterly), are offering free web space for LAN related, or Quake related pages.